Module Overview

Selling is the lifeblood of any business – and calls for a sophisticated array of organizational, commercial, and behavioural skills.

It becomes especially pivotal in challenging times, where every buying decision is scrutinized by the purchaser in the interests of preserving cash – and value for money considerations dominate.

This is the environment where your sales team has to up their game – to compete like never before for business in a flat or shrinking market and face a stream of challenges to win business against the inevitable forces of ever fiercer competition, price reduction demands and/or game-changing technologies.

This intensive, highly interactive 2-day workshop is very much geared to equipping participants with the vital, cutting edge skills to achieve winning sales outcomes even in these difficult times.

Learning Outcomes

Internalise the skills of a successful sales professional

Eliminate self-defeating behaviours that may be hindering sales success

Develop some key approaches to managing objections & building leverage

Use techniques to productively manage sales accounts on an ongoing basis.

Programme Content & Sequence of Elements

What is sellingWe explore what we understand selling to mean and the different commercial types – business-to-business, business-to-consumer, door-to-door, request for proposal, telesales, mail order, electronic. What’s common and what’s specific to each type.

What are some key selling skillsWe examine the key selling skills: commercial, analytical, organizational, behavioural, presentational, motivational. We survey the keypoints for each and offer practical strategies to practice and use.

What are some major selling mistakesWe reverse our focus to examine the most telling mistakes that undermine the selling process. We compare/contrast hard-sell and soft-sell approaches and offer guidelines to dynamically vary as appropriate.

What are the fundamentals of account managementWe address the strategy and roadmap aspects of finding, qualifying and retaining new business – categorizing customers, generating leads, building pipelines, setting goals, planning calendars, etc.

Managing the sales meetingWe study the seller-buyer interaction in detail – how to build rapport, expose wants and needs, overcome objections, establish leverage, confirm buying signals, etc. We delve into the verbal interplay at work in a sales meeting and the appropriate responses, verbal and non-verbal.

Making the pitchWe focus on the different types of presentation formats and collateral – powerpoints, brochures, telesales, demonstrations, web channels; and, on how to construct a proposal in response to an RFP or tender request.

This course is suited for

Salespeople, sales support, as well as candidates transitioning to sales.